STONE HEARTS ❨ ushijima wakatoshi ❩

「 SEVEN 」

CHAPTER SEVEN

As the team took their small break, a certain red haired made his way secretly to the girls' captain. This, however, slipped past the eyesight of everyone in the gym. After all, they were all mostly focused on catching their breaths. What could he want with Hara, who was torn away from her team that day and forced to watch his team play?

Tendou smiled to himself, sneaking up behind the girl. Hara had her eyes trained on the floor, thinking about some training regimen she could formulate to help the team. Her team. If she couldn't help with her presence on court, the least she could do was give tips on their training. Watching the boys play made her think that maybe she can use some of their strategies with her own team.

"Watanabe," Tendou called in a singsong voice, and Hara flinched, almost jumping on her seat. As she glared at him, the guy raised his arms in surrender and then sat down next to her on the floor.

"What do you need?" she asked, making the guy chuckle to himself.

"You and Ushiwaka seem to have something going on that we don't know. Maybe a matter from the past? I just wanted to know what it was. Why do you hate him so much?" Tendou asked, making the girl raise her brows. He leaned towards her, his smile making her feel creeped out. "He seems eager enough to fix whatever the problem is."

What kind of eyes does he have?

How can he be so accurate?

"You look like that shinigami from that one anime when you look at me like that," said Uehara, almost a whisper. "That shinigami's cute, though."

This, however, cracked up the red haired middle blocker. He agreed. He also thought that the character design of said character was rather interesting, but he did not expect such a remark from Watanabe Hara herself.

"Just answer me. It's not like I'm stepping on your pride. Or am I?" Tendou asked, grinning to himself.

"Stop stepping your big toe in my business," she retorted, but he just pushed her buttons even more.

"Eh? Just a little information can't hurt you, right? Or does it-"

"Fine! You just won't shut up," Uehara snapped. "During our early grade school days, I don't even know how to play volleyball. I just wanted to learn, but that friend of yours told me that I shouldn't and that he was better than me. He told me how I shouldn't be playing because I'll just injure myself-"

"He did? Ah, Ushijima, you little-" Tendou said, but stopped midway. "What did you do?"

"I left, of course. My parents were aces in their younger years, too. They were great players, yet I couldn't even hit a ball correctly. I went to Tokyo and trained there until I could." Uehara answered, folding her arms across her chest. "It was hard and I had to learn from scratch. I hated how he seemed like he was gatekeeping the sport from me."

"Wanted to prove him wrong, huh?" Tendou replied. "Why does his thoughts matter to you, anyway? He doesn't feed you-"

"I... I honestly don't know. But I don't want his words to affect me anymore," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Why would he care if I got injured back then? That idiot. We used to be close friends as kids. All he thinks about is-"

"You may have gotten it wrong, then," Tendou cut her off, so she turned her head to him and raised a brow. "He must have worded it incorrectly, knowing his personality. He was stiff even as a kid, was he not?"

"What the hell do you mean? What have I gotten wrong in all those years?" she asked. "I know, it's pathetic to hold a grudge this long. But what's wrong about what I felt back then?"

"You wanna know?" he asked, smiling at her almost creepily. It was like he was peering into her past but she was intrigued anyways.

Watanabe Hara, in all her life, never did think that her feelings fooled her to do illogical and unreasonable things. She always relied on what she thinks is right, whatever others might say. She believed whatever she saw.

She just couldn't understand what else Ushijima's actions back then could mean. Maybe Tendou's just messing with her, since he kind of looked like someone who'd do so in her eyes. Or maybe he just have really good eyes and perception about things.

"I think little Ushijima had a tiny crush on you as a kid, and wanted to impress you by being good at what he does and just saving you from getting hurt. After all, sports can be quite dangerous," Tendou said. "He was trying to look after you. A failed attempt, if I must say."

Hara felt her heart pound loudly against her chest. She never considered that possibility, given that Ushijima was stoic even as a kid. Was that even possible? It was impossible. Was he even capable of having crushes? He didn't look like someone who'd have a crush. But what if Tendou was right? What if she just took his words the wrong way? Still, he could have cleared it up- then she realized that she never gave him the chance to.

Hara furrowed her brows. Why did it affect her so much when he said those words? Before all the volleyball thing, she actually liked hanging around Ushijima as a kid. Which maybe was the reason why her mother loved him so much and thought they were close when he helped her get back home. She was fond of him as a kid, and she may have looked up to him as well.

"Nonsense," she whispered, cracking her knuckles. It was a habit she had when she felt nervous or uneasy.

"Whatever you say, Watanabe. But I won't spill," Tendou said, making her sigh in relief. "By the way, I'm amused. You can go from cold to hotheaded real quick. Hahaha!"

"You better not. Or I'll hit your head harder than I've ever hit a ball before. And shut up, I'm not hotheaded, thanks."

"Stone hearts, eh?"

The red haired guy chuckled to himself, and she just shut up. It was a bit too much to take in, the thought of her getting it all wrong being too big of a bite to swallow. He left her alone, wanting to play with her mind. Hara was, surprisingly, predictable for him. He wanted the two captains to resolve things themselves, he just wanted to drop a hint to support them.

Little did the two know, however, that who Tendou called the stone hearted Ushijima Wakatoshi was listening in all this time.